


open ending

by kinsugi_jess



Category: Emergence (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, and then well, it got cancelled, me to emergence: you could have done so much more if you only had time, this is unfinished but i thought i'd have more to work with when the show came back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29987838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinsugi_jess/pseuds/kinsugi_jess
Relationships: Jo Evans & Benny Gallagher
Kudos: 1





	open ending

It’s been a damn long day.

A damn long few days, to be precise. Since the very moment Jo realized that Benny had taken her Piper away from her, she’d been constantly in motion tracking him. Everything around her was thrown into chaos without the AI. Mia was panicking, and in true teenager fashion, was channeling her stress into giving everyone around her a hard time. Alex was, unfortunately, the most common recipient of the fifteen year old’s snarky comments, and so he took it upon himself to take her home. Ed stayed by his daughter, thankfully, but she took a page from Mia’s book and snapped at him to give her space.

By the end of the day, she was no closer to finding Piper, and the only person loyal (or stupid) enough to stay by her was Chris.

Then, after she’d endured countless more hours of this, and bitten Chris’s head off nearly a dozen times, she’d gotten a call. From Benny, her phone said, and she could barely believe it. It felt like she was in the middle of the desert, getting some cruel mirage of water.

Benny had told her a Sparks Notes version of what he’d done, and then an address she could pick Piper up at. Not completely unconvinced it was a trick, but unwilling to take the chance, she left in her car right away, before even telling anyone.

“Jo!”

The little girl rushing towards Jo is a blur of blue jacket and long brown hair, the colors melting together as the child throws herself into Jo’s arms.

“Piper!” Jo gasps. “I thought I wouldn’t see you again! The-the lady said you couldn’t take care of me. And, and Benny--”

Piper suddenly cuts herself off as Jo whips them both around so Jo could face the reporter who betrayed her family.

He holds his hands up in surrender at her hard-eyed look, and it’s only the weight of Piper in Jo’s hands that keeps her from throwing a punch.

Instead, she turns back to Piper and gives the girl an exhausted smile. “It’s okay, sweetheart. We’ll get everything settled later. For now, let’s get you home and we can cook you some Mac and Cheese and get you to bed, alright?”

Piper looks up at her with those big brown eyes. “You’re not mad at me?”

Jo lets out a surprised huff. “Why would I be mad at you?”

“Because I didn’t come home. I really wanted to, but they said they could take care of me and you couldn’t,” Piper explains.

Jo’s brows furrow. “Benny said that too?” she questioned.

Piper nods. “He’s like me. Can we go home now? I want everyone to know I’m okay.”

_”He’s like me.”_

_What?_

“Pipes, what do you mean that he’s like you?”

Piper shrugs. “I dunno. He’s just… like me. Like he can do some of the things I can do, I think. I dunno,” she repeats.

That didn’t exactly help, but Jo couldn’t blame the girl. She’s shaken up and tired, just like any kid would be after what she went through.

“Alright, hon. Get in the car. I’ll be there in a minute and then we can drive home, yeah?”

Piper lets out a little hum of assent and runs to the car, throwing open the door and getting into the backseat.

Jo watches the girl settle in and put her seatbelt on, before turning to the reporter standing off to the side. It’s impossible not to see him, and all the time she spent with him, in a different light. He was lying to her. Every stupid joke, every friendly touch, every genuine smile, even when he saved her from those robot-dogs… it was all to further the manipulation. He wanted Piper. And he was willing to string her along in order to get her.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Jo asks. “Wait, no, don’t say anything. Because everything you’ve said to me has been a lie. I could charge you, you know. I could charge you with obstructing an investigation, endangerment of a minor, kidnapping. Do you know how quickly I could put you in a jail cell, Benny?”

He doesn’t respond like she thinks he will, with defensive rage or panic. Instead, he just looks resigned.

“I know you don’t trust me,” he starts.

“Damn right I don’t,” she interjects. “Trust me, I won’t make that mistake again.”

He sighs. “I do hope you’ll change your mind about that, Jo. You and I made quite a team, you know.”

She feels a stab of… something hit her chest like a pinprick. She was never very good at identifying her emotions, preferring to ignore them entirely until they vanished on their own. It was a tried and true method that arguably led to her divorce, but she’s nothing if not consistent.

“I thought we did,” she manages. “But you were lying to me. I don’t know what kind of partnerships you’ve been in, but that type of thing doesn’t fly with me.”

“I understand.”

Jo raises an eyebrow. “Oh, you do, huh?”

“Jo, I never meant for it all to end up like this.”

She crosses her arms. “And yet…” She sighs. “You lied to me.”

“I did.” 

“You lied to my whole family, when they trusted you.”

“I did.”

“You stole my child!”

“I did.”

“And now you expect me to believe you want to help me?”

“I do!” he bursts out, finally showing some emotion. If she didn’t know better, she’d say he was… hurt.

Jo takes a step back, but he only steps closer.

“I never wanted to hurt you, Jo. When we first met, I really meant what I told you. It wasn’t until we started learning about Piper that Helen approached me. She’d been watching me for a while, months, years maybe, and she noticed that I was… like her. Like Piper.”

Jo asks, “What does that mean, Benny? Are you not human?”

“I don’t--” Benny ran his hand over his unshaven face. “I don’t know the specifics. I have no idea what I am. I thought Helen could help me, and help Piper. But you and your family are the best people to help Piper. I know that now.”

Jo sniffs. “Well, good for you. The rest of us already figured that out.”

Benny lets out a little laugh. “I guess I was a little late to the party, then.”

A silence falls over them, neither knowing what to say. Jo isn’t exactly angry anymore, really, just tired and burnt out. It seems that Benny is the same way. Without his cause of taking Piper, she wonders what he’ll do now. Who he’ll be.

Not that it’s any of her interest.

“Listen, I have to go,” she says, pointing towards Piper in the car. “Mac and Cheese to make. Plus, if I’m being honest, I really don’t want to be near you anymore.”

Again he laughs, and it leaves her feeling riled up. She isn’t joking. She means it.

“I’ll see you around, Jo,” he offers, and she shakes her head tersely.

“Not if I can help it,” she tells him, and then she turns her back to him and begins walking towards the car.

Behind her, she hears, “I will see you, Jo! Our story doesn’t end here.”

Of course, Jo does what she must. She opens the door, tells Piper not to look, wait until the little girl obediently closes her eyes, and flips him off.

He’s still there when she drives away, her little AI daughter already sleeping in the backseat, and she spends the rest of the ride home trying very valiantly not to think of him.


End file.
